


Forbidden Friendship

by Dawn21Saber



Series: Sabre’s Archives of Wholesomeness [1]
Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon), Tangled (2010)
Genre: Gen, Mentions of Blood, Wow a wholesome one for once, catalina is Toothless, forbidden friendship track, in which Varian is Hiccup, inspired by HTTYD, just adorableness, not canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:34:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26663746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dawn21Saber/pseuds/Dawn21Saber
Summary: Varian wanders off into the woods one night to check his alchemy traps for a wolf that’s been wrecking Old Corona’s farms.What he finds is... less than ideal.
Relationships: Red | Catalina & Varian (Disney)
Series: Sabre’s Archives of Wholesomeness [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1940602
Comments: 8
Kudos: 36





	Forbidden Friendship

**Author's Note:**

> So I love the headcanon that Varian is a big animal person. And not just like “oh I love animals” but like animals love him too and he’ll befriend them in .2 seconds if given the chance.
> 
> I’ve seen it before but I can’t remember who first thought of it 😅 if you know, feel free to tell me and I’ll make sure to edit them in so I can give credit for it!!
> 
> And again this isn’t canon! I just wanted to have some fun and happened to get back into my HTTYD hyperfixation again.

Varian arose early that morning, stretching his arms and wincing slightly at the pop of his shoulder blades. He rotated one arm, feeling the bruise from the debacle with the Saporians.

It hadn’t been long since the event had transpired. Almost five days now. He’d made amends with Rapunzel as best he could. He still felt a certain resentment towards her, but the sight of his father alive and free made it ebb ever so slightly. He was still working on it and, thankfully, Rapunzel and Eugene were both respectful of his boundaries and his aversion to the word “promise.”

Speaking of Rapunzel, the adventurous princess had tasked him with a job late yesterday afternoon when she’d brought over his new clothes that she made (despite his incessant reassurance he was fine with his old clothes). she’d asked him to investigate claims of a wolf running rampant around Old Corona recently. The animal had apparently destroyed some crops and scared off a few sheep and cattle. Varian had readily accepted the task.

Of course he had! These people hated him enough and he didn’t want to make the jeers and glares worse by refusing to help. Granted, he would’ve helped anyways, but the townspeople were a secondary motivator to push him to finish the task faster.

After she’d left, the alchemist had set up a few traps in the woods, all humane and using his goo balls of course. If he could just trap it in the goo, then he could find somewhere to relocate it or perhaps find a way to keep it out of the fields with some type of protective fencing.

And so that’s where he found himself this morning.

After eating and getting dressed (and giving his father a mini bear hug), the alchemist has begun gathering supplies for his adventure into the woods in case he spent longer in there than intended. It was until later into the afternoon when he’d left into the woods, his ever faithful raccoon perched upon his shoulders and chittering a little tune.

Varian joined in Ruddiger’s chittering with humming of his own. He didn’t take himself to be much of a singer, but he did enjoy humming and playing the piano from time to time. The little song he had going with Ruddiger was also enough to distract him from the hate-filled glares and fearful eyes directed at him by people as he walked past. It eased his anxieties away from the people who shied away from his presence and from the small children peering at him with curious eyes, wandering why the ever intelligent alchemist would be the receiver of such fear and hate.

The alchemist and raccoon entered the woods, ducking to keep from getting smacked in the face by a low hanging branch. By now, Varian was mumbling lyrics to the little song they’d made, spinning on his heel and gesturing enthusiastically with his hands as he sang to his audience of one raccoon.

”There will come a poet, who’s weapon is his word!” Varian sang, a little louder as a few small critters peered at him curiously, a couple rabbits darting into a bush to avoid tripping him. “He will slay you with his tongue! O lei o lai o Lord! O lei o lai o Lord!”

Ruddiger has jumped off his boy’s shoulders by this point, racing around his legs as he continued chittering the tune to which Varian sang. The tiny critter was so glad to see his boy so carefree and smiling and dancing. Smiling a smile he hadn’t seen since the day Varian had met Eugene and mistaken him for the real Flynn Rider. It made Ruddiger want to purr with joy, but he had to keep the tune so that would have to wait.

As they wandered deeper into the woods, Varian kept singing his song. They checked traps and none had been set off except a few, but one were wolves. Mostly squirrels and rabbits, sometimes a bid bird like a hawk or falcon. He’d set the free, maybe pat their head or stroke their wing, and then they’d be on their way to the next trap, leaving the animal to scamper/fly off.

It wasn’t until Varian was nearing the end of his song that they began approaching the last trap. It was nightfall by now, the boy and his raccoon having spent at least four hours in the woods checking traps, running around, greeting any animal that would pass or fly by. Varian always felt at home in the woods. He was so free and surrounded by science and nature alike at work. It was fascinating and made him forget about all the people that hated him back in his village.

”Smeared with oil like David’s boy!” Varian sang as they neared the last trap. “O lei o lai o Lord! O lei o lai o lei o Lord! Smeared with oil... like David’s... boy...” The young alchemist’s enthusiastic singing trailed off along with Ruddiger’s tuneful chitters.

Ruddiger’s ears had flatted, his tail bushing out as he darted in front of his boy. A low growl escaped him as he glared at the creature in front of them, stuck in the goo of Varian’s last trap.

Varian was shocked into silence. What stood before him was no wolf. Well, no wolf he’d ever seen before.

It was almost twice his height, which seemed huge to him given his small stature, and was standing on two legs. It’s eyes were a glowing red and it’s muzzle was open, showing two rows of razor sharp teeth with drool dripping from them, and long pointed ears on either side of its head.

”There’s no way...” Varian breathed. He couldn’t – didn’t want to! – believe was what right in front of his eyes. It defied everything he stood for and dabbled in... ugh... _magic_. No matter how much he was shown it again and again, he never liked it and always tried to find a scientific explanation. “A-a werewolf,” he stammered, heart hammering in his chest as he said that louder than intended, catching the werewolf’s attention.

The beast swiveled it’s massive head towards him, making the small boy take a tentative step back. Instead of growling and snarling at him like he expected it to, the werewolf merely let out pained whines, reminding Varian of where exactly it was.

His eyes traveled down to the hardened pink goo encasing the wolf’s feet and partially covering its lower legs, keeping it in place no matter how hard it struggled. He noticed some chips in the hardened crystal, seeing fragments of it in the grass and amongst the fallen leaves. Furrowing his brow, Varian’s blue eyes found the wolf’s clawed hands, noting the small droplets if blood on its claws coming from its own hands.

He felt queasy at the sight of blood, no doubt loosing all color in his face. The werewolf had been so desperate to escape that it had hurt itself trying to break the hardened goo. He felt terrible for being the cause of this creature’s pain.

Ruddiger have a small squeak of surprise when Varian shuffled past him, hands up with a vial in one hand. His boy was going to free this creature? Ruddiger couldn’t help the small purr of affection. His boy was very kind to all the animals of the woods, so he shouldn’t be too surprised. But this animal wasn’t like others. Ruddiger didn’t know the lore behind these creatures like Varian did, but he remembered seeing a drawing in one of the alchemist’s several books and understood these creatures of the night could be dangerous – deadly even. And he didn’t want his boy to be hurt even more than the Saporians had already done.

The werewolf saw Varian approaching and lowered itself down, ears flattening and letting out an involuntary growl, red eyes flashing a warning.

Varian shook his head, trying desperately to stop the thumping of his heart and trying to avoid looking at the blood on the wolf’s hands. “I’m not going to hurt you,” he assured the creature, wincing at the crack in his voice from fear. “I-I’m just going to g-get you o-out,” he stammered, showing the vial in his hand. “This will get you out by dissolving the goo,” he explained, feeling slightly more relaxed at having an excuse to focus on his alchemy.

The werewolf watched him closely as he uncorked the vial. He sprinkled the contents on the pink goo around the wolf’s legs and feet. The werewolf’s eyes widened in surprise as the goo dissolved and melted away from it’s legs. It looked at Varian who was smiling proudly at his work. Another thought flashed across the werewolf’s mind. He knew how to dissolve the goo, so he must’ve put it there.

”Th-there you go, heh,” Varian said with a nervous chuckle, placing the partially empty vial in one of the pockets on his belt. He wiped his gloves on his apron out of nervous habit, beginning to mess with the buttons of his vest absentmindedly.

Without warning, the werewolf sprung at him, causing the boy to let out a yell of terror as the creature slammed him into the ground, his head hitting a tree in the process. Stars danced in his eyes as he felt his body vibrate against the impact. He heard Ruddiger shriek in fear and race at the werewolf only to be flung away with a kick of the foot.

”Ruddiger!” Varian yelled in worry, pressing farther against the tree as the werewolf put its face right in front of him.

Varian was breathing rapidly as he stared into the wild red eyes of the beast. He could see a red-tinted version of his fearful face in the wolf’s eyes. His body began trembling as the wolf reared its head back, opening its maw as if to but him.

Instead of a bite, the wolf simply roared in his face, making his ears ring. He watched with wide eyes as it then ran off, a slight limp to its run.

Varian panted heavily as he stood with shaking knees, hand pressed against the tree in an attempt to help him steady himself. A chitter from below alerted him to Ruddiger’s presence.

The raccoon seemed to be okay except for a small scratch on his cheek from being kicked by the werewolf. Ruddiger quickly scaled Varian’s body, placing himself around his shoulders. He closed his eyes and began purring as Varian plopped back down on the ground, body trembling too bad to do anything else.

Over the course of the next three days, Varian had informed Rapunzel of the werewolf situation. The princess had been shocked of course, and then insisted he meet some new friends of her’s to get his mind off of his frightening endeavor.

He’d met Angry and Red, two former thieves that the princess had met on her journey to the Dark Kingdom. Lance has also apparently unofficially adopted them and taken them in as his own.

He’d gotten along with them fairly well, but Red seemed to look at him with pity and guilt. He didn’t know why, and it frustrated him to no end. Angry didn’t look at him like that, much the opposite. She looked at him with excitement, always eager to see what kind of inventions he could have to potentially cause a little good natured chaos, to which he was happy to partake in.

During these three nights, Varian had entered the woods again with Ruddiger. He would spot the werewolf running around sometimes, but never dared to get close. It wasn’t until the fourth day that he interacted with the wolf again. Unwillingly, might I add

Varian had finished his routine trap checking in the woods. Now, he was sitting at a lake on a rock a few feet from the shore’s edge. Ruddiger was in a tree eating an apple he’d taken from Varian nearby as he could hear the thieving little rascal crunching on it.

Varian hummed a bit before grabbing a stick off the ground. He began drawing in the dirt absentmindedly. He hadn’t run into the werewolf tonight, which he was slightly thankful for. There was, however, a part of him that was disappointed. The creature interested him. Despite it being affiliated with magic, it was still a creature of the woods and he wanted to learn about it. It wasn’t often you would hear of someone being able to study a werewolf. He wanted to learn about it, and maybe learn who the werewolf actually was. He was ever curious of it’s human identity, but was unsure if he even wanted to know in the first place. He was still scared of the creature, that much he knew, but maybe knowing the human underneath would help ease his anxieties.

”This is stupid,” Varian huffed slightly. He head snapped up at the breaking of a stick. He froze, eyes wide with shock.

Standing at the edge of the lake clearing not far from him, stood the werewolf. It was sniffing the ground, looking for something. It’s nose twitched before it looked up.

Varian flinched as the creature was suddenly in front of him, sniffing him. It seemed to huff in content before nosing the bag on his back, small growls coming from it.

”H-hey!” Varian protested as he shimmied the bag off and held it away, dropping the stick in the process. “That’s mine! G-get your own bag!”

The werewolf snorted at him, poking the bag in his arms with a claw. It then pointed to its mouth.

Varian looked confused before realizing. “Oh!” he said shortly, reaching in the bag. He pulled out a ham sandwich, one of the many he’d made that morning as he’d been in the woods all day. “You’re hungry?” he guessed as the werewolf eyed the sandwich greedily. He glanced at the sandwich and shrugged. It couldn’t hurt.

The alchemist held out the sandwich, fully expecting the werewolf to take it in its paws and eat it.

But no. Because nothing is ever going to give him a break.

Instead, the werewolf lunged it’s head forward, snapping its jaws around the sandwich. Varian yelped and jerked his hand back after almost having it bitten off.

The werewolf must’ve found the amusing because after it swallowed the sandwich, it let out gruff growls that sounded an awful lot like laughing.

Varian rolled his eyes. “So I guess food was all it took for you to not try and kill me,” he mumbled with a small shake of his head as he picked up the stick again.

Rolling it’s eyes with a small pout, the werewolf sat down beside him, watching as he drew in the dirt, his previous doodling being messed up by their small scuffle for food. The wolf titled its large head, following the motion of the stick.

Varian saw the expression of confusion switch to one of awe as the werewolf realized he was drawing it.

As he placed the finishing touches on the small doodle, the blue-striped boy heard the werewolf get up. He heard the pawsteps as it wander to a small pine tree – the one Ruddiger was currently sleeping on.

Varian couldn’t help the bark of laughter that escaped him as he saw Ruddiger he abruptly awoke by the tree being broken. The raccoon shrieked and hissed angrily at the werewolf before darting to sit on Varian’s lap with a pout.

The werewolf paid no heed to the small critter as it picked up the small tree between its teeth. It made its way back over to Varian. It looked at him, then back to the dirt, then back to him, then back to the dirt. The creature began spinning around and running to and fro, dragging the top end of the tree in the dirt.

Varian watched in awe as he realized it was copying him, drawing in the dirt as he had done. Standing to his feet (Ruddiger wasn’t happy about it and took his seat on the rock), Varian spun around as he watched the wolf. He ducked as the tree almost hit his head.

After a few minutes, the wolf stepped back, picking the tree up from the dirt. It threw it to the side and looked down at its work pridefully. It then looked at Varian, awaiting his reaction.

Varian looked at the puzzle the wolf had created in marvel. It looked a lot like one he’d shown Angry and Red. He looked at the wolf and took a step forwards. The werewolf suddenly began growling, baring it’s teeth and flattening it’s ears. Quickly, Varian picked his foot up and looked down, hearing the wolf stop growling. He’d stepped on a line.

Tilting his head, he looked at the werewolf and stepped on it again, eliciting the same reaction. He did it a couple more time before chuckling and stepping over the line. He glanced up at the wolf. The werewolf nodded its approval and began watching him intently.

Varian spun this way and that as he worked his way around the puzzle, avoiding the lines drawn in the dirt. He began grinning at the fun he was having, letting out a small laugh as he finally reached the edge. He felt his back bump against something and warm air disturbed his hair. He turned around and looked up to see the werewolf looking down at him.

Varian tilted his head, a dumb idea coming to mind. He hesitated before lifting a hand up. He looked at his hand and took the glove off of it, flexing his fingers as he looked up at the werewolf. He extended his arm out to its muzzle, the response being a warning growl.

The alchemist quickly retreated his hand, holding it close to his chest. He looked down, thoughts racing through his head.

This creature was dangerous. Why was he wanting to befriend it? It could turn and kill him any moment it chose. Then why did he feel so safe with it? It had almost bitten his head off the first time he’d freed it.

Then why didn’t he want others to find it and destroy it?

These thoughts raced through Varian’s mind. He felt his eyes water over at the thought of someone harming the werewolf in front of him. Darn his quick attachment to animals.

Blinking away the tears, Varian turned his head away and lifted his hand once more. He stopped it once he felt the hot breath of the wolf and the growling coming from it. He held his breath and squeezed his eyes shut, fully aware these could be his last moments alive if it chose to see this as a threat.

While the boy was battling his emotions, the werewolf was doing the same. Should it tell the boy who it really is? Should it really be this close to him in both werewolf and human form? Should it bother with an attachment if it knows one day this curse could mean Varian’s death?

The werewolf held back a whine. It truly wanted this alchemist to know it’s identity, but that would require trust on both ends. And right now, Varian was trusting it not to kill him and to accept his offer of friendship. All it had to do was...

Varian’s eyes snapped open at the feeling of fur on the palm of his hand. His fingers instinctively relaxed, laying down upon the soft fur of the werewolf. He looked up to see the werewolf had its eyes closed. It’s forehead was what was pressed into his hand, a gentle reminder of the trust it now had in him, despite them not having interacted the one time.

He wondered if it had spotted him watching it the past three nights or if it was because of something else.

Pushing these thoughts to the back of his mind, Varian shook off his other glove. He brought it up to the werewolf’s cheek, the new contact making the werewolf’s eyes open slightly. Varian hesitates before bringing the beast’s massive head down and removing his hand from its forehead. He placed that hand on the other side of the werewolf’s face, placing his forehead to the wolf’s. His heart was pounding wildly in his chest from fear. It was beginning to slow, his breathing calming down as the two sat there.

Eventually the wolf pulled away once noticing the reflection in the lake.

The sun was rising. Which meant it would turn back since the previous night was the last night of the full moon for a month.

Varian lowered his hands to his side. He spotted the sunlight and nodded at the wolf. “You can go,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “I don’t _need_ to know who you are...”

The werewolf let out a series of vocalizations that sounded an awful lot like “You’re such a dork.” before it shook its head and sat down, intending to stay and show who it was.

Varian raised an eyebrow at the small teasing statement. Not many people called him dork or nerd outside of his small group of friends.

Once the sun fully rose, peeking over the tops of the trees, the werewolf began turning back to its human self.

Varian stood in shock as he recognized the ginger hair on the person’s head.

Red opened her eyes, instinctively shrinking into her coat, the fur of the hood tickling her cheek. “H-hey, Var...”

Varian blinked at her and Red felt doubt enter her. Was it a mistake showing herself? What if he hated her for attacking him? What if –

Her thoughts were cut off as the alchemist flung himself at her, closing his arms around her tightly.

”I... I’m glad it’s you, Red,” Varian said with a relived sigh, a small smile on his face.

Red wrapped her arms around him, returning the embrace. “Thanks, Varian,” she said. “But you can call me Catalina... that’s my real name.”

Varian pulled away. “Nice to meet you, Catalina,” he chuckled.

Catalina laughed with him before smirking. “Soooo... did I scare you?”

Varian blushed in embarrassment. “M-maybe,” he admitted as Ruddiger chittered and hopped on his shoulders.

Catalina bumped him with her elbow. “Sorry about that.”

”Eh, it’s fine,” Varian said dismissively, grabbing his gloves off the ground and placing them back on his hands. “I’ve dealt with... worse.”

Catalina raised an eyebrow at him. “Worse? What could be worse than being almost eaten by a rage-filled wolf twice your size?”

Varian looked away, suddenly realizing what he’d said. “N-nothing! It’s nothing, never mind!”

Catalina looked at him skeptically but said nothing. She couldn’t pretend she didn’t see the hateful sneers and fearful glares directed at the alchemist back in Old Corona on the few trips she and Angry had accompanied him to his lab.

”Well, wanna head back?” Varian said as he brushed himself off.

Catalina shrugged. “Sure,” she agreed. “But, uh, can you not mention the whole... rawr thing yet?” She hooked her fingers like claws and bared her teeth in poor imitation of her werewolf form.

Varian laughed, absentmindedly stroking Ruddiger’s head. “Don’t worry, you have my word.”

The lingering “I promise” hung in the air, weighing heavy on Varian and unknown to the younger girl beside him as they made their way back to Old Corona.

**Author's Note:**

> I love their relationship with each other 🥺 Varian, Angry, and Catalina are some of my favorite characters from Tangled the Series and their dynamic is something I wish the show could’ve explored more of. I sadly couldn’t add Angry into this chapter, but I may have an idea with her in the future or I may be given one lol
> 
> But this is why we have ✨fanfiction✨ To appease our sibling bonding needs (and yes I see them as very close friends and sometimes non-biological siblings)
> 
> And also again, I may end up adding more to this. If you have any situations you’d like to see for this (AKA Varian and werewolf/normal Catalina and other characters), feel free to drop them on my Instagram (thedoctorpanda9), Tumblr (dawn21saber), or Twitter (@/DocThePanda)!


End file.
